Siberius is a planet in the Bogon Galaxy featured in Going Commando. It is a cold planet covered in ice and snow, home to the frozen base used by Angela Cross. Tall, icy mountains cover the surface, with the frozen base comprising tall buildings built onto the mountains. Large cargo trucks transport materials from one mountain to another, and Megacorp security forces defend the base.
Angela Cross, as the Unknown Thief, took the Protopet to the frozen base, along with chemicals ordered from Notak, hoping to destroy the Protopet there. Ratchet and Clank arrived to stop her and retrieve the Protopet for Abercrombie Fizzwidget.
History[]
Angela Cross intended to use a rocket in the frozen base to destroy the Protopet. To defend it, she updated her security forces, which had proven necessary after Ratchet infiltrated her flying lab on Aranos.[1] This involved updating the Megacorp Security Robot I - Chainsaw Model and Megacorp Security Robot II - Flamethrower Models to v2.0, which had improved armor plated with a Carbonox and Raritanium alloy.[2]
In order to destroy it, Angela ordered chemicals from a chemical factory in the Canal City, Notak. However, shortly after picking them up, the Protopet destroyed many of them, requiring her to order replacement chemicals delivered.[3] Ratchet and Clank viewed this transmission in the chemical factory, and used it to track her location to Siberius.
The Unkown Thief before Ratchet defeats her.
The two arrived and fought through her base, just as she began uploading materials onto the cargo trucks to transport them to the rocket. She tried to fight them off, using her hoverboard, but eventually the cargo trucks crashed near the rocket and the captive Protopet. Before it was destroyed, Ratchet defeated Angela and freed the protopet, then returned it to Fizzwidget on planet Tabora.
Geography[]
Overview[]
Map layout of the frozen base.
Siberius appears to be a predominantly cold, desolate planet, with its surface covered in ice and snow, and the water tinted a dark, nearly black purple. In the purple and blue-colored sky, three large astronomical bodies, seemingly close to Siberius, can be seen. Due to the cold temperature, Ratchet will shiver when idle and freeze into an ice block if he falls into the water.
Frozen base[]
The landing pad area.
The frozen base is built on tall mountains surrounding cold water. The mountains are covered in snow, with a moderate amount of vegetation, including blue and turquoise pine trees dotted around the cliffs, as well as large satellite dishes built on the mountainsides. Many of the buildings are almost as tall as the mountains, with large pipes leading down into the water. A few large dams are visible between the mountains, with several large ice crystals positioned in the waters in front of them.
The accessible base terrain encompasses a group of platforms high up in the mountains, with several buildings and a landing pad, and an elevator down to the ground level where the convoy is parked.
Truck convoy[]
The cargo truck convoy.
The truck convoy passes through a long valley path in the mountains, which frequently bends left and right. Each of the five dark green cargo trucks is an immense vehicle with four sets of two thick wheels. The first and third trucks have large hatches front and back, while the second has a lower flat top, and the fourth carries large boxes and canisters. Versa-targets floating above the back of each truck allow them to be reached with the Swingshot. The fifth, unreachable truck has supports on top to carry large objects, presumably the missile at the launch platform.
Launch platform area[]
The launch platform area.
The launch platform is held aloft by metal beams, the inner circle is empty, and the outer provides structural support. Ratchet arrived here after the cargo truck crashed, and the path backward was blocked by the cargo. During this time, Angela had set up a large rocket on the outer circle that would destroy the Protopet.
Behind the scenes[]
Siberius was programmed by Peter Hastings, and designed by Lesley Matthieson.[4] The big challenge with programming the level was the section with a moving train. The section was actually implemented as a train moving across the world rather than including a scrolling background (which they originally thought would be more difficult until they were proven wrong). This led to an issue where everything on the train, including weapon projectiles, inherited momentum and had to move an additional 70 meters per second on top of their original speed. Lots of particle effects also dragged behind or looked strange, and had to be retrofitted.[5] In early builds of the game, many weapons behaved incorrectly, and their effects often looked distorted as a result.[6] The difficulty behind this became a running gag whenever designers were asking programmers for something unreasonable.[7]
Siberius was likely named after the region Siberia in Eastern Russia, with which it shares an icy climate.
The frozen base is mistakenly referred to as the "frozen lab" when acquiring the coordinates.[3]
Citations[]
References[]
- Insomniac Games (2003). Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando [Game]. Sony Computer Entertainment. PlayStation 2.
- Stout, Mike; Garcia, Tony [@uselesspodcasts] (2011, July 10). Ratchet & Clank 2 Dev Commentary: 11 - Trains are a Pain in the Ass [Video]. YouTube.